Non Fluffy Wicca

Mufti Blames Women for Rape:

Australia: Australia's most senior Muslim cleric, Sydney-based Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, has recently jumped on the hate-mongering band wagon.

In the religious address on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilali said: If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?




The uncovered meat is the problem.




The sheik then said: If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.




He said women were weapons used by Satan to control men.




It is said in the state of zina (adultery), the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa).

Posted by mikki at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reader-Submitted: Bus driver won't drive busses with gay ads:


Metro Transit officials in Minneapolis give okay for bus driver to only drive busses without gay ads because of her religious beliefs.

A Minneapolis bus driver was offended by a series of advertisements for the local gay magazine Lavender that have been running on the outside of Twin City busses for several months. According to the Star Tribune newspaper, she complained to her...

Posted by mikki at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boy Scouts shill for MPAA with copyright merit badge:


Cory Doctorow:

The Boy Scouts of America will offer rewards to Scouts who absorb a brainwashing regime written by the MPAA. The merit badge in "respecting copyright" will almost certainly not include any training on fair use, anything about the fact that the film industry is located in Hollywood because that was a safe-enough distance from Tom Edison that the its founders could infringe his patents with impunity; that record players, radios and VCRs were considered pirate technology until the law changed to accommodate them; or that the entertainment industry enriches itself without regard for creators, who are routinely sodomized through non-negotiable contracts and abusive royalty practices. I'm sure it won't mention the anti-competitive censorship masquerading as the Hollywood "rating" system, or the way that the studio cartel's copyright term extensions have doomed the majority of creative works to orphaned oblivion, since they remain in copyright, but have no visible owner and can't be brought back into circulation.

Bravo, Scouts -- letting an industry group brainwash the children in your charge is the only way you could sink lower than being mere religious bigots -- now you're religious bigots who shill for a cartel of Fortune 100 companies.

Boy Scouts in the Los Angeles area will now be able to earn a merit patch for learning about the evils of downloading pirated movies and music.

The patch shows a film reel, a music CD and the international copyright symbol, a "C" enclosed in a circle.

The movie industry has developed the curriculum.

"Working with the Boy Scouts of Los Angeles, we have a real opportunity to educate a new generation about how movies are made, why they are valuable, and hopefully change attitudes about intellectual property theft," Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, said Friday.

Link

(Thanks, Kingkong, Cyrus, Jeffrey, Dolface, and Jdaisy!)

See also

Boy Scout badge in Intellectual Property

Posted by mikki at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wonder if Wiccans should offer the same option in the same schools and see what happens...

IDSnews.com:


INDIANAPOLIS -- A Mooresville, Ind., woman is suing her son's public school, alleging that its practice of allowing some students to attend Bible classes once a week on school grounds while others stay behind without instructional time is unconstitutional.

The woman, identified only as M.W. in the lawsuit against the Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation, is the mother of an 8-year-old student at Neil Armstrong Elementary School.

The Morgan County school just southwest of Indianapolis allows third- and fourth-grade students to leave school for one hour a week to attend Bible classes in a trailer on school property, the lawsuit states.

Students who do not take part stay in school, but do not have instructional time, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Oct. 11 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.

Steve Harris, an attorney for the Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation, said Tuesday that it is the district's policy not to comment on pending litigation.

Although teachers at Neil Armstrong Elementary do not teach the class, they are involved because they collect parental permission slips to attend the program, said Jackie Suess, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Indiana, which is representing the mother.

The mother also said a teacher asked her son on the first day of school why he was not attending the classes, the lawsuit states.

"Her little 8-year-old child came home crying more than once because he felt sort of singled out for not participating," Suess said.

For the program to be constitutional, Suess said, the school should not be involved in any way. Teachers should not hand out enrollment forms for the program, and the classes should not be held on school property, she said.

"We're not attacking religious education release programs," Suess said. "They can be constitutional if they're done correctly."

The Bible class is run by a private group called the Morgan County Schools of Weekday Religious Education. In a letter explaining the program to parents, the group said the classes are nondenominational and focus on the Bible. An offering is collected each week to help pay for classroom expenses.

"Three aims are stressed weekly: daily Bible reading, daily prayer and encouragement to attend church school and worship in the church of your choice," the letter states. "A selection of Bible readings and a scripture applicable to the lesson are sent home with the child each week. Pupils are encouraged to memorize the

scripture."

Posted by mikki at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks JSQ :-)

Book: White House advisers mock, then exploit, evangelical supporters:


Book: White House advisers mock, then exploit, evangelical supporters
Peter Wallsten
Los Angeles Times
Oct. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - A new book by a former White House official says President Bush's top political advisers privately ridiculed evangelical supporters as "nuts" and "goofy" while embracing them in public and using their votes to help win elections.

The former official also writes that the White House office of faith-based initiatives, which Bush promoted as a non-political effort to support religious social service organizations, was told to host pre-election events designed to mobilize religious voters who would most likely favor Republican candidates.

The assertions by David Kuo, the former No. 2 official in the faith-based initiatives program, have rattled Republican strategists already struggling to persuade evangelical voters to turn out this fall for the GOP.

Some conservatives lamented Thursday that the book, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, also comes in the midst of the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley's interest in male congressional pages, another threat to conservative turnout in competitive House and Senate races.

The book is scheduled to hit stores Monday, but the White House responded to its assertions Thursday as excerpts began leaking out.

In the book, Kuo, who quit the White House in 2003, accuses Karl Rove's political staff of cynically hijacking the faith-based initiatives idea for electoral gain. It assails Bush for failing to live up to his promises of boosting the role of religious organizations in delivering social services.

Posted by mikki at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mighty mouse! Rare discovery in Europe - CNN.com:


LONDON, England (AP) -- Using DNA testing, scientists have discovered what is believed to be the first terrestrial mammal found in Europe in decades: a mouse with a big head, ears, eyes and teeth that lives in a mountainous area of Cyprus.

The mouse was native to the eastern Mediterranean island, survived the arrival of man on Cyprus and could be considered a "living fossil," experts said.

"New mammal species are mainly discovered in hot spots of biodiversity like Southeast Asia, and it was generally believed that every species of mammal in Europe had been identified," said Thomas Cucchi, a research fellow at Durham University in northeast England.

"This is why the discovery of a new species of mouse on Cyprus was so unexpected and exciting," he said in an interview Thursday.

The mouse mainly lives in the Troodos Mountain in the west of the island, Cucchi said, favoring vineyards, grassy fields and bushes.

Genetic tests confirmed the mouse was a new species and it was named Mus cypriacus, or the Cypriot mouse. The findings appeared in Zootaxa, an international journal for animal taxonomists.

The biodiversity of Europe has been reviewed extensively since Victorian times, and new mammal species are rarely found on the continent.

Cucchi said a bat discovered in Hungary and Greece in 2001 was the last new living mammal found in Europe. No new terrestrial mammal has been found on the continent for decades, he said.

Recent discoveries elsewhere have included a new tree rat in Brazil, a new primate in Tanzania and another new mouse in the Philippines.

Posted by mikki at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The "War Against Civil Liberties" continues....

Criticizing Cheney to His Face Is Assault? | The Progressive:


Steve Howards says he used to fantasize about what he’d say to President Bush or Vice President Cheney if he ever got the chance.

That opportunity arrived on June 16, the same day he says he read about U.S. fatalities in Iraq reaching 2,500.

>Howards says he was taking two of his kids to their Suzuki piano camp in Beaver Creek, Colorado. They were walking across the outdoor public mall area when all of a sudden he saw Cheney there.

“I didn’t even know he was in town,” Howards says. “He was walking through the area shaking hands. Initially, I walked past him. Then I said to myself, ‘I can’t in good conscience let this opportunity pass by.’ So I approached him, I got about two feet away, and I said in a very calm tone of voice, ‘Your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.’ And then I walked away.”

Howards says he knew the Administration has a “history of making problems” for people who protest its policies, so he wanted to leave off at that.

But the Secret Service did not take kindly to his comment.“About ten minutes later, I came back through the mall with my eight-year-old son in tow,” Howards recalls, “and this Secret Service man came out of the shadows, and his exact words were, ‘Did you assault the Vice President?’ ”

Posted by mikki at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok... we've already seen how ridiculous some of this stuff can be. If we look for insult in everything, we will most certainly find it. The Wiccans "insulted and offended" by portrayals of witches on Halloween don't get my sympathy. Christians "insulted and offended" by the Goddess of Justice, Justitita (or Ma'at, or whomever) in front of our courts get my ridicule as well. Please....can we just get over being offended for just a little while and get on to something IMPORTANT like world hunger or the War in Iraq or whatever?

Muslim community offended by Apple's Fifth Avenue NYC Cube:

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Retail, Cult of Mac

Posted by mikki at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michigan backs teaching evolution in science class - CNN.com:


LANSING, Michigan (AP) -- The State Board of Education on Tuesday approved public school curriculum guidelines that support the teaching of evolution in science classes -- but not intelligent design.

Intelligent design instruction could be left for other classes in Michigan schools, but it doesn't belong in science class, according to the unanimously adopted guidelines.

"The intent of the board needs to be very clear," said board member John Austin, an Ann Arbor Democrat. "Evolution is not under stress. It is not untested science."

Some science groups and the American Civil Liberties Union had worried that state standards would not be strong enough to prevent the discussion of intelligent design as the course expectations developed over the summer.

The guidelines approved Tuesday detail what the state expects school districts to teach in their science classes. If a district or teacher chose to include intelligent design in a science class, they could face a court challenge from opponents of teaching intelligent design.

Intelligent design's proponents hold that living organisms are so complex they must have been created by a higher force rather than evolving from more primitive forms.

Some want science teachers to teach that Darwin's theory of evolution is not a fact and has gaps.

Posted by mikki at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Note from Robert Anton Wilson and his daughter:


Mark Frauenfelder:

Earlier this week I wrote about writer Robert Anton Wilson's unfortunate situation (the short story: he has no money, has a few months left to live, and was facing eviction from his apartment). Yesterday, I wrote an update.

Today, I received this email from Bob's daughter, which contains a note from Bob. It's very moving. People opened their hearts and their wallets, and Bob is going to be able to live out his remaining days in peace. Thank you all very much.

On behalf of my Dad, RAW (Bob), I want to throw my arms around you "like a

circle 'round the sun!" for your loving graciousness in posting Bob's need

on your site. As of about 5 minutes ago, over $68,000 has come in. We are

all overjoyed as it now means that we can continue to celebrate this phase

of his life in the comfort of his own home, with all the care he needs,

until his passing, honored by the loving support of so, so many wondrous

folks. Just last week I was sick with heartache as we were faced with

giving his notice and now, the world has simply and completely -

transformed. Last night, he dictated a note that he wanted me to forward to

you - below is the text. He is very weak, cannot sit up or eat on his own,

and as he struggled with a whispery voice to express his gratitude, he broke

into tears several times. How my heart swelled as I gazed at this man who

has been both one of the most frustrating - and incredible - beings I have

ever known. I would not be who I am today, had I not grown up with him.

Much love, Christina Pearson

BOB'S NOTE:

Dear Friends, my God, what can I say. I am dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and

totally stunned by the charity and compassion that has poured in here the

last three days.

To steal from Jack Benny, "I do not deserve this, but I also have severe leg

problems and I don't deserve them either."

Because he was a kind man as well as a funny one, Benny was beloved. I find

it hard to believe that I am equally beloved and especially that I deserve

such love.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, know that my love is with you.

You have all reminded me that despite George W. Bush and all his cohorts,

there is still a lot of beautiful kindness in the world.

Blessings.

Robert Anton Wilson

Posted by mikki at 04:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taking Burning Man to the Net's masses | CNET News.com:


If you went to Burning Man this year and didn't get a chance to see that one great art piece everyone was talking about, the event's organizers and Google may have a solution.

By leveraging the open-endedness and utility of Google Earth--the search giant's 3D mapping and visualization tool--Burning Man is embarking on what it's calling "Burning Man Earth." The project's creators envision that eventually they will be able to offer fully 3D versions of each year's event in the Black Rock desert, and in the process give participants a way to connect with the makers of art pieces and theme camps so that members of the community can learn from each other and extend the event's reach across the world.

Posted by mikki at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The White House Warden - Los Angeles Times:


The White House Warden
Congress may give the president the power to lock up almost anyone he thinks is a terror threat.
By Bruce Ackerman, BRUCE ACKERMAN is a professor of law and political science at Yale and author of "Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism."
September 28, 2006

BURIED IN THE complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects in the Guantanamo Bay fortress. The compromise legislation, which is racing toward the White House, authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights.

This dangerous compromise not only authorizes the president to seize and hold terrorists who have fought against our troops "during an armed conflict," it also allows him to seize anybody who has "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States." This grants the president enormous power over citizens and legal residents. They can be designated as enemy combatants if they have contributed money to a Middle Eastern charity, and they can be held indefinitely in a military prison.

Posted by mikki at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

:: Douglas Rushkoff - Weblog :::


I hope people I've inspired with my work would band together to help me out in my later years if I needed it. Which is at least part of the reason why I'm sending what I can to support cosmic thinking patriarch Robert Anton Wilson, whose infirmity and depleted finances have put him in the precarious position of not being able to meet next month's rent.

In case the name doesn't immediately ring a bell, Bob is the guy who wrote Cosmic Trigger - still the best narrative on how to enter and navigate the psycho-spiritual realm, and co-wrote the Illuminatus Trilogy, an epic work that pushes beyond conspiracy theory into conspiracy practice. Robert Anton Wilson will one day be remembered alongside such literary philosophers as Aldous Huxley and James Joyce.

But right now, Bob is a human being in a rather painful fleshsuit, who needs our help. I refuse for the history books to say he died alone and destitute, for I want future generations to know we appreciated Robert Anton Wilson while he was alive.

Let me add, on a personal note, that Bob is the only one of my heroes who I was not disappointed to actually meet in person. He was of tremendous support to me along my road, and I'm honored to have the opportunity to be of some support on his.

Any donations can be made to Bob directly to the Paypal account olgaceline@gmail.com.
You can also send a check payable to Robert Anton Wilson to
Dennis Berry c/o Futique Trust
P.O. Box 3561
Santa Cruz, CA 95063.

Posted by mikki at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please read the entire article linked below. This law now ensures that only the rich who choose to throw money at an issue, will be able to stop governmental establishment of religion in schools, government workplaces, etc. So now, if your child is forced to pray to Jesus before school starts, you'll have to find and pay an attorney to take the case, rather than the contingency funding that used to occur. Large groups like the ACLU will be highly stifled, as they generally have their fees paid through success in these cases. Before you cheer and applaud this result, think for a minute what could happen as the majority in your school zone shifts to a religion you may not be comfortable with....

Erwin Chemerinsky - Legislating Violations of the Constitution - washingtonpost.com:


With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion.

A federal statute, 42 United States Code section 1988, provides that attorneys are entitled to recover compensation for their fees if they successfully represent a plaintiff asserting a violation of his or her constitutional or civil rights. For example, a lawyer who successfully sues on behalf of a victim of racial discrimination or police abuse is entitled to recover attorney's fees from the defendant who acted wrongfully. Any plaintiff who successfully sues to remedy a violation of the Constitution or a federal civil rights statute is entitled to have his or her attorney's fees paid.

Congress adopted this statute for a simple reason: to encourage attorneys to bring cases on behalf of those whose rights have been violated. Congress was concerned that such individuals often cannot afford an attorney and vindicating constitutional rights rarely generates enough in damages to pay a lawyer on a contingency fee basis.

Without this statute, there is no way to compensate attorneys who successfully sue for injunctions to stop unconstitutional government behavior. Congress rightly recognized that attorneys who bring such actions are serving society's interests by stopping the government from violating the Constitution. Indeed, the potential for such suits deters government wrong-doing and increases the likelihood that the Constitution will be followed.

The attorneys' fees statute has worked well for almost 30 years. Lawyers receive attorneys' fees under the law only if their claim is meritorious and they win in court. Unsuccessful lawyers get nothing under the law. This creates a strong disincentive to frivolous suits and encourages lawyers to bring only clearly meritorious ones.

Posted by mikki at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, why is a book so dangerous to fundamentalists? Why are authors targeted for death by some extremists, and their books targeted in countries where authors aren't usually shot in the streets? What is it about free thought that frightens so terribly many?

This planet is crazy: US library ban on JK Rowling - most wanted:


Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has been voted the author Americans most want to ban from libraries over fears that her books promote witchcraft.

The American Library Association (ALA), who compiled the list for their Banned Book Week, said there were more than 3,000 attempts to remove the books from libraries and schools between 2000 and 2005.

The ALA said some of the main reasons cited for protesters trying to get controversial books removed from circulation were sexually explicit material, having an occult theme or offensive language.

Other complaints highlighted books with violent content or promoting homosexuality or a religious viewpoint.

Other authors on the list include John Steinbeck, for racism, violent language and sexism in Of Mice and Men, Harper Lee for To Kill a Mocking-Bird and William Golding for Lord of the Flies.

Rowling said: "As this puts me in the company of Harper Lee, Mark Twain, JD Salinger, William Golding, John Steinbeck and other writers I revere, I take my annual inclusion on the list as a great honour."

An ALA spokesman said: "Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to express one's opinion, even if it is considered unorthodox or unpopular and it stresses the importance of ensuring others have access to those viewpoints."

Posted by mikki at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After trying just about every possible appeal to common sense, fundamental fairness, constitutional rights, etc. to various congressmen, senators, the VA, the National Cemetery Administration, stories on just about every major media outlet, outraged veterans, etc., the only ones who would listen were the politicians of Nevada, who straight out overruled the VA, allowing the pentacle on any veterans' tombstone in any cemeteries on state land. One down, 49 to go.

But why did we have to go this far? Why did the Sikhs get an emblem within a week of asking, and Wiccans have waited 9 years and been strung along, kept from pushing the point legally due to the requirement that there be an actual DECISION to appeal. In quite the creative and clever twist, the ACLU have found a way around that. Kudos to the ACLU for their quite innovating approach.

Pagans Sue on Emblem for Graves - New York Times:


Military veterans are entitled to have their headstones engraved by the government with a symbol of their religion. Families of the deceased may choose from emblems representing a variety of 18 Christian churches, a number of Buddhist sects, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and atheism (represented by an atom with an A inside) — 38 religious symbols in all.

But not the Wiccan pentacle, which the Department of Veterans Affairs has neither approved nor disallowed despite various petitions over the last nine years.

Yesterday three Wiccan families and two Wiccan churches sued to force the department to include their symbol — a five-pointed star inside a circle — on the list of approved emblems.

Wiccans, also called pagans, are often wrongly confused with Satanists. Theirs is a nature-based religion recognized by the Internal Revenue Service, and by the military itself in its chaplains’ handbooks and on the dog tags that troops wear around their necks. There are an increasing number of Wiccans (pronounced WIK-ens) in the armed forces — 1,800, according to a Pentagon survey cited in the suit.

Posted by mikki at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)